


execution order

by BeesKnees



Series: Offspring [6]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Chris and Leon's kids, Chris and Leon's son, Discussion of Humanity, Family, Family Drama, He's a real dick to Leon, M/M, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Siblings, Simmons shows up in Chapter 12, Superpowered teens bring superpowered drama, discussion of trauma, the Redfield-Kennedy Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 10,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeesKnees/pseuds/BeesKnees
Summary: It has been recommended that the Bravo Wesker project be shut down and all subjects be terminated.Leon's not dealing well with the idea of the BSAA coming after his kids.
Relationships: Leon S. Kennedy/Chris Redfield
Series: Offspring [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688584
Comments: 9
Kudos: 69





	1. The Memo

To the BW OBSERVATION COMMITTEE,

It is hereby my recommendation that all experiments related to the BRAVO WESKER project be euthanized within a time frame of no longer than 6 months.

The following subjects are covered in this project:

> B01W* [hereon referred to as BENJAMIN REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B02W [hereon referred to as NIKKI REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B03W* [hereon referred to as LUNA REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B04W** [hereon referred to as RAIN REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B05W* [hereon referred to as MORGAN REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B06W [hereon referred to as HANA REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B07W [hereon referred to as JAMIE REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B08W* [hereon referred to as EIGHT REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B09W** [hereon referred to as JUDE REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B10W* [hereon referred to as KIT REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B11W [hereon referred to as ELI REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B12W* [hereon referred to as MIDNIGHT REDFIELD-KENNEDY]  
> B13W* [hereon referred to as NOVA REDFIELD-KENNEDY]

After spending three months as an assistant researcher at the facility, it is clear that the subjects are still growing in strength and ability. Unfortunately, they remain unstable, a danger to themselves and others, as demonstrated during the April 14 incident. The full report of this incident can be found in Appendix A.

During this incident, NOVA incited EIGHT and MIDNIGHT to attack my person. I avoided a lethal injury only because DSO Agent LEON KENNEDY, BSAA Captain CHRISTOPHER REDFIELD, and CLAIRE REDFIELD arrived on scene.

While Agent Kennedy should continue to receive commendation for his efforts in this project and the extents to which he has been able to further it, several issues have become clear: 1) Agent Kennedy is emotionally invested and compromised to the point of being unable to put general public well-being and human safety ahead of the vitality of the BRAVO WESKER project; 2) the removal of Agent Kennedy from the subjects would result in rapid degeneration, enhancing the danger they pose; 3) and as the subjects continue to grow stronger and more self-aware, there is nothing driving them to continue to mind Agent Kennedy. Given these factors, it seems a certainty that a death, or worse, at the hands of a B0W experiment is a matter of when.

If the committee should find itself reluctant to terminate all subjects at once, I recommend the following adjustments: of the list above, all unmarked names have the potentiality for eventual integration with human population with close observation; asterisked names should be terminated for the safety of all involved as these individuals have “abilities” that are outside the “core” set outlined in Appendix B, and many of them are the most unstable; double asterisked names [RAIN and JUDE] should have any and all public identities sealed for the remainder of their existence, be housed at the primary London lab, and be give resources to run experiments as they so please, with close observation.

I defer to and respect all judgement made by the committee from this point forward and make myself available to ethically, honestly, and transparently answers any questions or give additional information regarding this matter if I am so called upon.

\-- BSAA researcher CURTIS CONRAD, employee number: 033106020829


	2. B01W: Ben

Ben is Leon's son. Ben is the big brother of the siblings, unaged as they all are. It was Ben's trust in Leon that coaxed the other babies to seek him out – to understand that this adult was a different source of comfort from the other adults who were all disdainful expressions and cold needles. This adult would hold them and praise them and call them by something other than numbers.

The siblings trusted Ben to decide what was safe in the world. And that trust never really went away. 

…

Ben is with Leon when the incident happens. 

They're working on Ben's marksmanship. Ben has already decided that he wants to follow Chris and join the BSAA. It's a little easier said than done with Ben's history, and the Observation Committee is still deciding if that's an option they're going to allow to the siblings and, if so, what their testing standards will be. 

They can't control that, so they focus on practicing what would be part of the standard test. Ben has an advantage on so much of that.

But he's really impatient when it comes to firearms. Leon supposes he might be if he was stronger and faster than almost anything he came up against it. Ben just prefers to get in there and start hitting something over shooting at a distance.

(He and Chris bicker over whose fault this is – Leon says that's pure Redfield brain there: just punch things until they stop moving. Chris is quick point to out that Leon is arguably more comfortable with hand-to-hand combat than Chris is.)

And to be fair, there is no denying that Ben is a really beautiful mix of the two of them when it comes to fighting in close range. He has Chris' strength and more but he's also grown up learning from Leon, so he has Leon's fluidity and grace. 

It's become an unspoken rule that Leon and Chris cannot conduct shooting lessons together with Ben. If Piers is there, Piers usurps them all and becomes Ben's teacher, because Piers can be counted on not irritating the shit out of Ben even when forced behind a sniper rifle. Ben and Chris usually end up bickering with one another if Chris tries to offer advice. Leon finds that hilarious, particularly because it's so endearingly normal. Which is why he's been banned in the event that Chris and Ben do train together.

Ben's been doing pretty well today, though, when his expression goes slack and unfocused. 

“Ben?” Leon asks after a second of pause. 

“Something's wrong in the lab,” Ben says a moment later, his gaze still hazy. He snaps back to Leon. “Something's happened with Nova and Eight.” He doesn't say anything more, because he likely doesn't know anything more: their hive mind allows for strong emotions to bleed through and the most basic of concepts. 

They move in tandem, sprinting back toward the house and taking the steps two at a time to get to the lab that's housed in the basement. It takes up the entire floor, offering the height of technology to help assess the growth and abilities of the siblings – and, lately, to allow the siblings to allow to run tests on themselves and their genetic makeup.

Leon steps into the lab in front of Ben – and he knows it's only because his son allowed it. In the main section of the lab, the head researcher is standing in the corner, eyes wide with fright. Chris is already there and has both arms around Eight, trying to hold him in place. It's impressive that he's managing, because Eight is bigger than Chris and stronger than the rest of the kids. He's holding back their son from attacking the assistant researcher, who is still fairly new to the lab – Dr. Curtis Conrad. 

Ben steps deftly around Leon to walk over to Eight and Chris, murmuring quietly to his brother to try and calm him.

Across from Conrad, Midnight is holding a hysterical Nova. 

“ _What_ is going on?” Leon asks as Claire also arrives, running smack into him. 

Conrad tries to answer, but Midnight shouts over him: “He _hit_ her!” Midnight gestures from Conrad to Nova.

Leon's still trying to process how that could have happened, because they've never had anything like this happen in the house before. Unfortunately for Conrad, Claire is faster than Leon.

“You _hit_ one of the kids?” Claire says, shoving past Leon, obviously intent on giving the beating that Eight so desperately wanted to start. 

A stormy expression clouds Conrad's face. He steps forward to meet Claire.

“They are _not_ children, Miss Redfield,” he says, matching her tone. “Despite their appearance and despite the charade at playing house here, it is quite evident that their 'child' presentation is a survival technique!”

“ _What?_ ” Claire says, exacerbated.

“Wesker obviously made them look like children because he knew we, as normal empathetic human beings, would hesitate to kill them then,” Conrad says bluntly. “It's allowing them – as BOWs – to thrive.” He points a finger at Nova. “That one wouldn't stop sparking me because she thought it was _funny_. Now she'll think twice before she does it again. That's how you train them, Miss Redfield.”

It's hard to know who Conrad is in the most danger from at the moment. Chris looks too shocked to be enraged yet, though Leon knows that will come later. Claire is practically shaking with her anger. 

But it's Midnight that Leon reaches for. 

Midnight lets go of Nova to step up next to Claire, obviously about to spit in Conrad's face. Leon grabs Midnight around the middle and pulls her back against him as he claps a hand over her mouth. Instead of spitting venom into Conrad's eyes, the venom bites at the skin of Leon's palm. 

And Claire, therefore, gets the pleasure of punching Conrad in the face and breaking his nose. Leon is afraid for a half a second that he's going to hit her back. If Conrad touches Claire, there really will be no way to get him out of here alive, because Chris would probably throw his lot in with the kids and Leon isn't sure he'd be quick to stop them either. 

“You're all too compromised to be running this facility in the way it should be run,” Conrad says through the blood. “And him most of all.” He points over at where Leon is still holding Midnight. 

“Is that your professional opinion, Dr. Conrad?” Chris asks, his voice clipped, all angry captain. 

“Yes,” Conrad answers, tilting his chin up a little.

“Great,” Chris answers. “You're welcome to say so to the Observation Committee. Now get out of the house. I will never see you on these premises again. Consider your clearance revoked.” He nods toward his sister. “Get him out of here, Claire.” 

Conrad eyes Claire distrustfully.

“Captain--” he starts to protest.

“Believe me when I say that you'll prefer my sister's company over mine right now, Doctor,” Chris says sharply, bringing the conversation to an end. 

… 

By the time Conrad is gone, Midnight, Nova, and Eight are upstairs with the rest of the siblings, filling them in on the messy scene that had played out downstairs. It's hard to be together in moments like these, because their hive mind feeds on itself, echoing the anger and fear back on itself over and over again. And yet, it's impossible to be without one another. They're all they know, and they're the only ones who know how to start to calm Midnight's and Eight's rage and Nova's hysteria. 

Ben goes back down to check on Leon and Chris, because he knows they're wanting their dads and the reassurance that they bring. 

Ben hesitates outside the lab when he hears Chris talking to Leon. Chris is bent over Leon's upturned right hand, finishing wrapping it up.

“Does it hurt?” Chris murmurs.

“Like a mother,” Leon says, both tired and amused in the way that Ben knows he only talks when he thinks none of them are listening. Sometimes Ben doesn't get his dads and their relationship. But he does when they're like this. The way they express their love is much quieter, more hidden. 

The siblings have a running joke about how serious and tough Chris and Leon act when they're being Captain Redfield and Agent Kennedy. Only as Ben has gotten older has he realized that those personas aren't really an act – they're just more relaxed and at home when they're with the siblings – and that's something that Ben feels almost possessive of in a silly way. It's proof that Chris and Leon really are their parents and really do love them, and it's not a job. They are a family.

But when he sees the corners of how they're like with one another, Ben realizes that's there's still another layer that they maybe only peel off for each other – the vulnerability that comes with being in a fight for so long, Ben thinks. He doesn't know for sure. He half wishes that the dads would show him, so that Ben could prove that he could be trusted with this too. 

“That was smart thinking, Kennedy,” Chris says, taking half a step back from Leon. He pushes some of Leon's hair out of his face.

“I'm lucky my fingers didn't melt together,” Leon answers. “Not sure what good an agent is without being to hold a gun.”

“Please,” Chris snorts. “I've seen you when you've got a gun in each hand. You'd be fine if you had to go lefty only.” 

Leon makes a soft, amused sound.

“Fuck,” he breathes out after a second. “This is going to be a goddamn mess.” 

“How the hell did he get through screening anyway?” Chris asks irritably. “He should have never been in the house in the first place. It'll be a lot of paperwork, but the committee can't possibly listen to him.”

“I don't know, Chris,” Leon says. “This is bad timing with so many of them looking at starting lives outside the house in the next year or two. And is anyone ever going to trust that I know what I'm doing ever again? Or should I also buy into the theory that Wesker ruined me?” 

Chris says something so quietly that Ben can't hear it.

“I know,” Leon answers. He scrubs his good hand over his face. “Claire breaking his nose was probably worth the binder of paperwork that's going to cause.”

Ben can practically hear Chris' smile.

“Yeah, that was pretty epic,” Chris says. He pauses and then adds, “We should head up.”

Belatedly, Ben realizes that he's just standing in the hallway when he's supposed to have come to collect them. He takes a breath and then starts walking again, heading into the lab as if he hadn't been parked outside it for the duration of their conversation. 

Leon looks up as soon as he enters the room and manages to smile faintly. This is the truest image that Ben has of his father, and his heart swells a little. The older they get, the clearer it becomes just how much their dad has shielded them from. And the amount of shit he's taken from the BSAA and the DSO for it.

Chris turns and grins at him, too, a touch lighter than Leon.

“Ben,” Chris says. “You all right?” 

“Yes,” Ben says, looking between the two of them for the moment they just shared with each other – but they're back to being his dads now. “You?”

“Yeah,” Chris answers, and it's implied that it's for both him and Leon even if it's not true.


	3. B02W: Nikki

If any of the kids are Claire's, it's Nikki. If Ben is the big brother of the group, Nikki is the big sister – the other trusted fixed point. 

Leon and Nikki barely interacted when they were in Wesker's facility together, because Nikki simply hadn't needed him as much as many of the other kids. That was true even when they got into their new home. Leon was always putting out fires those first few weeks. 

Nikki was never the one who caused an emergency. Even when she had nightmares about the shadowy times of being back in the facility, she was quick to let her other siblings seek comfort from the man who had become their father. 

And it was Claire who noticed, familiar with the faces worn by self-sacrificing older siblings. They had a sort of scheduled time together, just the two of them, where they sat outside long after they were supposed to be back in the house and Claire would tell her about all the places she had been and about the normal parts of life that Nikki was afraid she would never see. 

After the incident, no one in the house would have guessed that Nikki would have been the one to sneak out. To be fair, she doesn't exactly get caught. 

Even Leon and Chris don't know she's outside that night, much less the security team. Most of the times, Claire would have found that to be a problem, but this particular night, she's glad to be able to sneak out after Nikki. Most of the siblings would have probably used the opportunity to sneak into town. Most of them are always chasing after the “normal” life that seems perpetually out of their reach. 

But Nikki hasn't even left the property. She's up in a tree near the edges, just looking up at the sky.

“Room for one more?” Claire asks, already pulling herself up. 

If Nikki is alarmed at being “caught,” she doesn't show it. She makes a noncommittal noise and shifts over for Claire. There's a moment of silence, but Claire doesn't press. 

“Sometimes the house just feels too closed up,” Nikki says finally. “I remember the first time we went outside when they were taking us out of the facility. There was so much light and air. Everything was so bright. And there were sounds everywhere and I felt like I just couldn't take it all in.” She pauses. “All those agents thought we were such little freaks. 

“I guess we are little freaks,” Nikki says bitterly. 

“Nik,” Claire says, sighing.

“There's just so _much_ world,” Nikki says, pained. “And I wanted to see all of it, Claire.”

“Today's not going to change that, Nik,” Claire says, nudging her with the toe of her shoes. “You're still going to see it. We're going to get you into TerraSave.”

“They'd kill all of us if it wasn't for Leon,” Nikki says flatly. “They still might. And I know the house isn't the facility but sometimes it still feels like a prison.”

Claire learns forward and pulls Nikki against her, holding her the best that she can considering they're in a tree.

“Maybe they're right,” Nikki says softly. “Maybe we are monsters. I would have hurt that scientist if I had been there. Our anger was so loud.”

“Protecting someone you care about is human, Nik,” Claire says quietly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “So is wanting everything. And it can make monsters out of all us, but none of you are naturally monsters. You're fighting the same fights as the rest of us and you don't even know it.”

Nikki is quiet for a long time.

And then: “Tell me about Mexico City again.”


	4. B03W: Luna

Luna is Leon's second baby. She was experimented on more by Wesker and his “researchers” than any of the others, and she cried constantly because of it, likely because she was in pain. Luna has the ability to do minor shapeshifting – not different creatures, or anything like that – but subtle enough changes to make her seem like a different person or give her an athletic advantage here or there.

Wesker had been fascinated by the precision of it, and his researchers had been delighted at finding a baby to poke that couldn't yet poke them back.

So, little Luna and her dark curls and perpetual crying had been the next baby to be kicked out of the nursery. Ben would settle once he was in Leon's presence, but Luna loved to be held. When she started to get a little older, she would cry when they would come to take her from Leon. Often, Ben's weaponized screams were used to protect Luna.

The night of the incident, Luna wakes them all up with a nightmare. 

She draws deep from the dregs of their memory: glowing eyes that watched them, sterile and cold surfaces, the absence of the sun, the loneliness that came even though they were always together. The pain and the fear that made up all the first months of their lives but that they can't fully put into words now. Perhaps there would be nothing at all left if it wasn't the way their memories wisped together. It becomes just enough to feed nightmares and make a monster out of a man who might have otherwise just been a footnote in their files.

Her horror is strong enough that it leaks into the minds of the siblings and by the time Luna wakes herself up screaming, the other 12 are shaken, also waking up in cold sweats, breathless – some more aware than others that it's not necessarily the past they're afraid of but that the might wind up in another lab in the future. 

When they were little, they would crawl into Leon and Chris' bed without a second thought, clinging to the blanket of safety their dads brought with them. On particularly bad nights, they would all pile out into one of the larger rooms, forcing Leon and Chris to come with them. 

They're too old for such things now. Leon heads, feeling blurry without sleep, to Luna's room. The atmosphere is more tense now than when they were little. Leon suspects it's because they're learning the limits of what he can protect them from and they know what real dangers they face. 

Most of the kids hang out of their doors as Leon and Chris walk down the hallway, still hoping, regardless, for the fear to be soothed away. 

Luna is crying quietly, her face buried in her hands when Leon enters. She doesn't look up, but Leon sits down on the edge of her bed and hugs her, drawing her against him. She goes without a fight, clinging to him.

“It's okay,” Leon murmurs, running a hand up and down her back. He would have never guessed that this is where his fight would take him and there are plenty of days where Leon feels weird about not being out there with a gun in hand, taking down a bad guy. But he'd told Chris that he had become a cop to protect people and this is still a part of it. He had just thought that his ability to be so empathetic and comforting had died somewhere around the time he started fighting Tyrants. It's too hard when you're just constantly losing people. But being around the siblings has awakened something of the optimistic rookie cop that Leon thought was long gone.

The events of the day have obviously run everyone a little thin, because Luna just keeps crying, getting herself wound up again when she tells Leon about the dream, when she worries that they're going to be thrown into cages and mutilated so their abilities can be replicated and weaponized. 

“Jesus, Luna!” Midnight finally bursts in. “Fucking stop! We're trying not to think about it! We want to sleep! Why do you get to be more afraid than the rest of us?”

“Get out!” Luna shouts back at Midnight, hurling a pillow at her. “You're such a hateful thing, Midnight!”

Midnight is clearly about to say something scathing back, but Chris steps in. Instead of trying to reason with her, he simply picks Midnight up and throws her over a shoulder and heads back down the hallway. She curses at him as they go, but Leon knows it's the right thing: they'll fight, working their way through all the martial arts Midnight has learned, and that will help calm Midnight down. She'll route her angry into the physicality of the sport and hopefully exhaust herself. It's the way that Midnight and Chris have always bonded, Chris utterly unfazed in the face of her mood swings.

And Leon thinks he probably has a good plan. 

“C'mon,” he says, gesturing for Luna to follow him.

With the explosion of Midnight's anger, most of the siblings are either committing themselves to try and go back to sleep – or Nikki is heading into the kitchen to make cocoa, another tradition from their gatherings after nightmares. 

Leon and Luna walk through the dark house and out onto the screened porch. Luna's grown calmer just walking out of the bedroom, focusing on the motion of her body instead. She and Leon began to flow through yoga poses. She centers herself again, listening to the breath coming in and out of her body, letting her abilities shift through when she wants to move deeper into a particular stretch. 

She and Leon had started doing this at first to help with the aches that came from her ability. Some of the others joined in, but Luna didn't think that any of the others were able to achieve the same zen-like state of appreciation that she and Leon shared. With 12 siblings, sometimes they had to be greedy about the things that got from their parents. 

Luna is like that with the brief car rides she shares only with Chris, too. She's a talented enough dancer that the Observation Committee had given her permission to take _outside_ lessons. So every other week, she and Chris pile into his Jeep and drive to the nearest city. 

Midnight jabs her over the dancing – says that it's cheating when Luna can move her body into positions that no regular human body could manage. But this is Luna's talent, and dancing makes her feel a oneness with the universe that is unparalleled to none. Besides, it's not fair that when Rain is in the lab, that's somehow a miracle, but when Luna dances, it's cheating. 

When they're finished, Luna feels better. She's lulled by the sleepiness of the siblings as if she's being rocked.

And, still, she asks: “Do you ever think about him the way that we do?” Luna asks tentatively. They barely know anything about how Leon wound up in the facility with them. 

Leon is still.

And then he answers: “I try not to. He was an asshole who took enough from all of us. He doesn't deserve anything more.”

“But there are always more people like him,” Luna protests, and Leon doesn't now if he's ever heard a truer truth. He wishes he could say that he's working on it. And he is, but she's also right, and that makes Leon tired. There is always another bad guy, someone who's hurting people for fun or profit. That still drags on Leon's soul, which is hard because he feels he owes the kids a better explanation. And Leon isn't sure he has one.

“And you just keep fighting and living anyway, Lu,” Leon says, shrugging. He pushes some of her hair out of her face. “You'll go to dance on Friday, and we'll take care of each other.” That's the other thing he had forgotten somewhere along the way that the kids reminded him of: that them taking care of each other is more powerful than the evils of the world. He doesn't think he could do this fight without that knowledge now, and it's the only thing he can really give the kids. The biggest mistake Wesker made was giving them each other.


	5. B04W: Rain

If Wesker was still around, Rain would be his heir apparent. She is arguably the most powerful of the siblings. Even Leon can never forget that she's something beyond entirely human when they're together. Rain has one foot in this world but the other exists in a plane beyond their understanding. 

Rain is able to navigate the hive mind in a way that none of the others can. Perhaps, if they had continued to grow under Wesker, Rain might have been able to control the others. As it is, no one is really sure if that's a possibility. What it does mean is that Rain has not only a photographic memory but is able to draw on the knowledge of anything her siblings have read, heard, or learned. It allows her a limitless amount of information. 

And she's put her mind to work in the labs, adding invaluable resources as to how the siblings can be used to make vaccines and cures and prevent future attacks. It goes far beyond anything they could have hoped for when the siblings were taken from the facility.

The Observation Committee isn't sure if Ben can join the BSAA or if Nikki can go work for TerraSave, but there's never been a single hesitation about Rain doing research for the BSAA. And despite the incident, there's been no discussion of suspending Rain's upcoming trip to the London lab. A bunch of classified documents are supposed to be at her disposal there. Her brother Jude is set to go with her – Jude and Rain are the only two of the siblings who actually share a parent. 

Jill shows up to escort them. Jill Valentine is the local legend around the house. 

It's a jokingly sore subject with Chris who can't wrap his head around why Jill gets to be effortlessly cool to the kids when they've done the same job for years. 

When it comes to Leon and Chris, though, the kids act like they're placating their dads' needs to be badasses. There's a lot of eyerolls, and, “Sure, Dadfield,” while Jill's stories get rapt attention. Claire does absolutely nothing to help this perception. 

Leon seems unbothered by it, but Chris hasn't yet learned that trying to insist that he's cool too makes him so much less in the eyes of his children. 

Jill seems a little unsure what to do with the adoration of the siblings. She's not at the house terribly often, so the kids are excited when she visits and Jill isn't entirely accustomed to them yet. But she sees how much Chris loves them and how much they love Chris, so that paves over the worst of the oddness of it for Jill. Mostly. 

Jill's arrival, at first, brings back a sense of normalcy to the house – she calms the security and research staff who are still a little shaken by what happened. And the kids are excited enough that they forget the worst of their jitters and fears. 

That normal doesn't last long, though. 

“Are you all packed?” Leon asks Rain and Jude as they finish dinner. 

And Rain, with a shadow of confusion over her face answers, “We're not going.”

It's the first that Leon, Chris, or Jill has heard of this. 

“The orders haven't changed,” Jill says slowly, looking between Chris and Leon as if waiting to see how they're going to react.

“Rain, you've been waiting to go to London for weeks,” Chris chimes in, also looking over at Leon and trying to discern what's changed and when. 

“I'm not leaving the siblings until the execution order is stayed,” Rain says simply.

None of them knows what to say. Finally, Leon comes up with an eloquent, “What?”

“That doctor is going to recommend termination of the Bravo Wesker project,” Rain says, seeming as if she doesn't understand why she has to explain this to them. “The Observation Committee will open up an investigation. I don't know which way the committee will go right now because American policy regarding BOWs is so unstable. But the committee will be more reluctant to terminate me than the others, so I'm staying here with them until we find out how we're going to stay safe.”

Leon is unnerved. Rain is almost never wrong when it comes to things like this. But Leon has also never considered what the siblings would do if they found themselves on the wrong side of the BSAA and DSO. Rain's own words – _when_ we find how we're going to stay safe – implies that the kids aren't going to take an execution order lying down.

None of the know what to say. Rain doesn't go to London with Jill. And the next day the announcement of an investigation and a copy of Conrad's recommendation and request is delivered to Leon.


	6. B05W: Morgan

Morgan is, perhaps, the baby that saved Leon. They were the quietest of all the babies. Morgan is another what-if: if they had stayed with Wesker, perhaps they would have developed the ability to control minds. As it is, they use a limited amount of their powers, able to bring comfort and calm to those that they touch.

When Leon had been in the facility, he hadn't even known that Morgan was doing that to him at first. But Morgan had never seemed to be in distress or need when they sought Leon out. It took Leon only a couple of times to realize that he was the one being held in those moments, comforted by the toddler who never did anything more than smile shyly at Leon. 

Morgan is the one who still feels most like a child to Leon, and Leon suspects that Morgan might be one of the few who doesn't ever end up leaving the house or the care of the BSAA entirely. They're Leon's dreamer baby, content in almost any situation they're in.

Morgan's touch is something of a divisive issue these days in the house. When they were all very little, the kids used to flock to Morgan to let them calm the worst of their fears. These days, most of them have learned to fight their own demons – or they're wary of being blunted to their emotions. Midnight and Eight skirt away from Morgan's touch. They still need their fear and anger too much. 

The day that the investigation order comes through, the kids keep wandering in and out of the living room. They seem to need to check to make sure the others are still there even if their bond never lets them forget the others. 

It's Nikki who first gives in and takes Morgan's hand and after that they all allow themselves to be comforted, keeping close to one another, letting Morgan make them believe that they're safe and loved even when they don't feel that they are. 

Chris and Claire handle bedtime – which is, admittedly, a hell of a lot easier than when the kids were clocking in around the age of 5. 

It's late and Leon is still up and in what is, objectively, his office, scouring over paperwork and arranging meetings and taking late phone calls. He bleeds with worry. Raising the kids hasn't been easy, and he wasn't expecting it to be. But this investigation seems to be on a different level. 

He's never before had to ask himself where he'd land if the BSAA and DSO declare the kids weapons instead of humans. When he'd originally made the deal, he'd thought that it would be obvious if there was an incident. But this is anything but. 

He becomes aware after awhile that he's being watched and looks up to see Morgan in the doorway, just watching him. 

“Come in,” Leon says tired, and Morgan does. They press gentle fingertips to the back of Leon's wrist – a question. And Leon nods so Morgan steps closer and wraps their arms around Leon. Leon closes his eyes, letting the worst of his fears ebb from his mind. 

And still he knows he's not ready to lose any of them.


	7. B06W: Hana

“Could we be cured?”

It's a tentative question that's deafening. 

Hana brings it up without warning while they're at dinner the night after the memo arrived. It reminds Leon that he never really knows what to expect with the kids. Maybe this is a question that he should have anticipated years ago. But he didn't. 

Hana is the one who makes a study out of trying to live as normally as possible. That doesn't mean trying to learn everything she can from Claire or any of their other visitors. Hana considers to still be a part of _this_ world, and Hana is always looking toward the _real_ world – what teenagers who are unaffected by BOWs would be doing. She was the first to approach the topic of driving, which had also caught Chris and Leon off guard. 

“What the _fuck_ , Hana?” Midnight bites out. (And it's really not fair that it takes him and Chris so long to figure out how to react to these things when Midnight is always so ready with a curse.)

“What?” Hana asks, pursing her lips. She might be shy, but like Luna, she's not one to take her sister's abuse lying down. 

“Why is that a bad question?” Hana asks tersely. “Rain is studying us more and more. If the decision is between being normal and being _terminated_ by the BSAA, wouldn't you rather be alive?”

“I think you'd rather be _normal_ no matter what the circumstances,” Eight says, voice low. 

“We'd be separated,” Nikki says, worrying at her lower lip at the idea. 

There's an uncomfortable pause.

“You'd give us all up,” Midnight accuses Hana. Hana's expression only becomes more set.

“Things would just be different,” she replies. “And, yes, I'd rather be alone in my own head and alive than for all of us to just be gone, Midnight. I'd rather have to call you every now and then to ask how you are rather than to have feel us _dying_. Or have you not thought about that? They can't kill all 13 of us simultaneously so some of us are going to feel the others go first.”

She looks from Leon to Chris to Claire.

“Why can't we have the choice on how we want to live?”

The atmosphere in the kitchen has taken on a dangerous edge, and most of the other siblings don't seem to know what to say, although Ben and Nikki both seem trying to come up with something. Morgan tries to reach for Midnight and she slaps their hand away.

“I _like_ how we are!” Midnight says, voice rising. “And you might as well be dead if I have to feel you leave anyway. And I'll tell you how things will play out if they find a 'cure' for us, Han. They'll make most of us take it. They'll keep Rain as she is because she's a goddamn repository of BOW knowledge. And maybe they'll let golden-boy Ben stay as he is when they realize that he's really good at killing things like us for the BSAA. And maybe they'll take Morgan and slap them in a lab so they can make Rain figure out how to make and monetize their abilities into a new depression medication.

“But, me?” she points to her self, “and Eight? We'll be the first two they inject that shit into and then toss out onto the sidewalk like we weren't anything. And I _like_ the way we are!” Midnight repeats. “I like Luna's stupid dancing and that I can feel that Nikki is irritated with me right now. I like when Kit walks on the ceiling and pretends she's being possessed by a demon, and I like that Eight could benchpress 10 of Dadfield!” 

Hana looks like she's on the verge of tears. 

“It doesn't matter,” Rain says finally, as if only now joining the conversation. “The virus is part of our DNA. It can't be stripped out.”

“So you're stuck with me, Hana,” Midnight says, but her voice is cracking now, her anger giving way to the grief underneath the surface. Leon still doesn't know what he's supposed to say.


	8. B07W: Jamie

“Are you ever disappointed?” Jamie asks unexpected that night, stopping Chris and Leon in the doorway as they're saying goodnight to the kids.

“Disappointed?” Leon echoes. 

Jamie is the other sibling who is most likely to agree to a cure, if one were to exist. He's looking at colleges despite the warnings that he's going to find the pace of traditional education tedious after the accelerated pace his life has taken to this point.

“That I don't want to join the BSAA or create vaccines or help people who have been affected by BOWs,” Jamie says with a helpful shrug. “That I just want to go and read books and talk about them with other people?” 

“No,” Leon says, smiling faintly. “That's all I ever wanted for any of you.”


	9. B08W: Eight

The security team tries to deny Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin entrance to the house the next day. 

“Oh, for fuck's sake,” Jake says at the front door. “This is bullshit. We're family.” He pushes past the man trying to block him from entering despite Sherry's protests. 

“Muller, I will shoot you to remove you from the premises,” the guard warns.

“Yeah, okay,” Jake scoffs as he drops his duffel bag on the living room floor. “You and I both know it's not even worth the paperwork for you to pull your gun out of its holster.” 

He turns his attention away from the guard and toward Eight who has just entered the room.

“The fuck's going on, Ocho?” Jake asks with a jerk of his head. They grasp each other in a rough hug.

“Oh, they're just deciding if they're going to murder all of us,” Eight answers lightly. 

“What?” Sherry asks, high-pitched and startled from where she's joined them. “Where's Leon?” 

“Upstairs,” Eight says without offering further explanation. 

Jake is eying the guard still, as if he suspects that security _could_ just start firing at random. 

No one would have guessed that Jake Muller would have settled into their lives when he'd first come out of the woodwork of Edonia. But the kids had needed someone to look up to who was like them, and Sherry and Jake fit the bill and seemed to be living _real_ lives. Jake and the 13 had oddly complementary parts of the Wesker story: Jake, his DNA but none of his attention, and the kids the opposite. All of them ragged pieces of Wesker legacy with the accompanying trauma. 

Jake had been happy to join a club that was centered around how fucked up his dad was, and perhaps, even a little relieved to find someone who'd had a more messed-up situation than he had. 

He and Eight had naturally gravitated toward each other. 

Eight had always needed a lot of Leon's attention. He had come out of the lab with a name, same as the other kids, but he'd gone back to being called just “Eight” when he was a little older, finding it to be more symbolic of his status in the world when compared to a name that he and Leon had picked out for him.

All the siblings had extraordinary strength, but Eight is on utterly another level. His anger and resentment make that an uneasy mix at the best of times. Leon worries the most about Eight.

And while the Observation Committee had been concerned that Jake would be a bad influence on Eight, he has proven to be quite the opposite: Eight can see the repercussions of the anger and rebellion in Jake's life and where it landed him. He doesn't need to make _all_ of the same mistakes with a pseudo big brother guiding him.

“Let's head outside,” Jake says to Eight, nodding his head back in the direction of the front door.

Jake holds his hands up as they pass the security guard.

“If you don't like it, take it up with the agent man upstairs,” he says. 

And they head outside without any further issue. They stand near the back of the property, and Jake offers Eight a cigarette even though they both know that Claire will find a way to make Jake pay for it later. 

They don't speak for awhile until Eight offers up, “If they decide they're going to 'terminate' us, I'm not just standing by. I'm not lining up. I'll fight them.” He worries that some of his siblings won't – that they _will_ just line up to allow themselves to be killed. Eight simply doesn't have the same blind faith in the BSAA and DSO that some of the others do. He doesn't like to constantly be reminded that he's alive at someone else's mercy. 

“Don't,” Jake says after a moment, and Eight looks sharply to him.

“I'll come for you,” Jake says with a steely look in his eyes. “Don't fight the BSAA. You won't win. We'll go underground. They'll never find us.” 

“I would have thought you would have been on board with blowing up a few things on the way out,” Eight challenges. 

Jake snorts, smoke pluming from his nose. 

“I'd rather you live to fight another day than to lose you to some fancy fireworks,” Jake answers, flicking his cigarette butt to the ground because he knows it will annoy Chris. 

“Besides,” Jake adds after a second, “you can't honestly think that Agent Pretty Hair and Captain Muscles in there are just going to hand you all over.” 

But Eight's expression tells Jake otherwise: that Eight is worried about precisely that – that given a choice between loyalty to their organizations and their family, they'll chose the mission. 

“Agent Pretty Hair and Captain Muscles aren't going to hand you over,” Jake says – a statement this time, so Eight will hear him. 

“You might lose that shiny stamp of BSAA-DSO approval, but you kids aren't leaving this world anytime soon.” 

Eight can almost believe Jake.


	10. B09W: Jude

The Observation Committee sends five BSAA officials and two DSO agents to conduct the investigation. They've never been to the house before and don't know Chris or Leon personally, so they're considered to be as impartial as one is going to get in the work they do. 

In the lab, during his turn, Jude obediently strips off his shirt so the doctor can present the faint scars left from when Jude's wings were removed. The observers talk about him as if he's not in the room, but Jude doesn't pay that much mind.

Jude is not one of those wishes they were more human. The wings were an inconvenience, yes. But he's not particularly interested in fitting into human society even if he doesn't want to stand out either. 

Jude has accepted that _they_ will never entirely be accepted – and in that, he's found contentment with the world they have built. 

He's supposed to travel to London with Rain to work on the BOW research together. It's a comfort to know he's likely to always be with his sister and to know there's a way in which he may be useful to the world. 

Without warning, someone steps up behind him and traces those scars, and Jude startles. In the room, Leon straightens a little, assessing whether or not he needs to intervene. But Jude is fine and he smiles a little for Leon's benefit. 

He can never entirely forget that Leon isn't really their father, but it's nice to see a sort of love that puts something good into the world. 

Jude doesn't worry, because he doesn't believe the world is done with them just yet, and he doesn't think the Observation Committee is done trusting Leon Kennedy just yet.


	11. B10W: Kit

Kit has no problem putting on a bit of a show for their visitors. She knows so many of her siblings won't be able to – they'll be mired in their fear, anger, and shyness. 

Kit owns gravity. She walks on ceilings and walls no differently than the ground. She had scared Wesker's lackeys so many times, popping down on them, giggling at her game. She never could really hurt them, but she was still handed off to Leon early on because she was labeled as a _troublemaker._

She's happy to see Leon smile as she takes a twirling bow on the ceiling. His smiles are hard to earn, and Kit is proud to often be the source of them. 

She had loved the times he had been allowed to visit them in the facility when they were all trapped together. Kit had always felt bored. There were just so many things for reading and learning and thinking, and Kit had wanted to run and see this outside that everyone talked about but had never belonged to her.

But Leon had played the games with her that she made up. Her favorite had been to climb onto the ceiling, scream, and then drop down, leaving Leon to catch her. And he always did.

So, she's not afraid of the Observation Committee now.


	12. B11W: Eli

After the committee's team leaves, they expect that will be the end of it until they get the official word.

No one expects Derek Simmons to stop by the house unannounced. 

Leon knows him, of course, but they're not familiar, particularly since it's been awhile since Leon has been in D.C. Leon isn't thrilled to see the man as he comes through the door, flanked by his own security. But Leon also supposes he's lucky that the Simmons hasn't shown up before now. He's notorious for wanting to manage every decision that Adam Benford makes, and Leon very much doubts that Simmons feels he got his fair say when Benford just up and gave Leon an estate for the purpose of raising BOW children Simmons has never examined.

But the investigation has turned their home into a more open space, and Simmons has finally managed to throw his weight around enough to see behind the doors and voice his opinion. 

“I hope you don't mind, Agent Kennedy,” Simmons says, his tone perfectly balanced between mocking and politeness – enough to know his real intentions but never enough to proof it in any meaningful way. He doesn't acknowledge Chris at all.

“I've just heard so much about your work over the years,” Simmons says, looking around the house. “I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it for myself.”

“Right,” Leon says. This is the part of working for the government that he hates and has only gotten worse as he's rarely in the field now. He's no good at the political play, which he's acutely aware of as he tries to navigate this investigation. He figures he's in no spot to just throw Simmons out. The kids are all sitting through a math lesson, though, so he figures that's a good as time as ever for Simmons to show up. A few of them might sleep through the class, but who can blame them? That's as normal as it gets, Leon thinks. 

Chris and he take Simmons to the back of the house – Simmons' team still trailing after them, which Leon thinks is borderline ridiculous. Chris isn't saying anything at all, so Leon knows he's irritated. 

Leon expects to stand outside the classroom and let Simmons observe, and he's annoyed with himself for that assumption when Simmons naturally just steps into the back of the classroom like he owns the building. 

The stranger immediately draws all the kids' attention. Leon can see the way Midnight's eyes immediately narrow, and Ben's brow furrows a little as he looks Simmons up and down and then looks back to Chris and Leon. 

“This looks very organized, Agent Kennedy,” Simmons says as he inspects the room. Another insult disguised as a compliment. 

Chris clears his throat, apparently having decided that Leon's carried his weight in terms of interacting with Simmons. He goes through introducing each of the kids in turn. Who are each thankfully still on their best behavior, even though Leon can tell that they're wary, disdainful of the way that Simmons is talking to him and Chris. 

It's been documented that the siblings can be too protective of Chris and, particularly, Leon, which is seen as another potential red flag when it comes to Chris and Leon being the main caretakers for the kids. 

(Nobody ever complains about the kids being too protective of Claire. Claire likes to say it's because even the kids know she doesn't need their protection.)

Simmons walks up to Ben and taps on his desk. 

“And this is the one you carried, Agent Kennedy? Or were a host for? I'm afraid I don't know the proper terminology.”

Ben is wearing Chris' outraged face when something has happened that he doesn't know how to process yet. 

Leon belatedly realizes that Simmons is bating the kids. He _wants_ something to happen.

“Yes,” Leon bites out. 

“You understand that I'm among those who believe that constitutes a conflict of interest that should invalidate you from running this facility,” Simmons says. “With no offense to your considerable field record, agent.”

“None taken,” Leon says acidly. Chris takes half a step forward, and Simmons' attention refocuses. 

“And, of course, Captain Redfield, I believe you should have been court-martialed for your actions,” Simmons says, voice still calm as if this is a remotely normal conversation. “We must hold ourselves to the highest standards, must we not?”

Ben's face is a flaming red. He usually has good control of his temper, but Leon is afraid that he might actually be the one to snap. Leon can't even bring himself to look at either Midnight or Eight, too afraid of what he might see. 

“Sir,” Eli speaks up, raising his hand before standing but without advancing on Simmons. “Might I give you a tour of the rest of the house? There's not much else to see here.” 

Leon doesn't know if he's ever been so grateful for Eli's charm. Leon had sworn when Eli was a little younger that he had some ability that made him a little bit more at ease in other people's presence, but the scientists had continued to insist that Eli was simply good with people in a way that he and Chris certainly aren't. 

Eli is almost always the best spokesperson for the siblings now, and has, in recent months, started giving presentations in lieu of Leon to the Observation Committee on their status. 

Simmons looks at Chris and Leon a moment longer, as if still giving them an opportunity to showcase their infamous stubbornness. Leon continues to bite his tongue, stayed by the fact that Simmons could have the power to influence the execution order. 

“Certainly,” Simmons says finally, gesturing for Eli to lead the way. And Eli does, taking this spark away from the powder keg of their family.

As Eli passes him, he squeezes Leon's wrist and then winks: he's got this.


	13. B12W: Midnight

Given the global nature of their work, it's not unusual for late-night phone calls. Still. This one catches Leon off guard.

Groaning, he kicks Chris awake.

“What?” Chris grunts, still facedown in his pillow.

“Midnight's at the police station,” Leon says. 

“ _What?_ ” Chris says more sharply, pulling his face out of the pillow this time. 

It's 3 in the morning and there are times when situations like this amuse them with their normalcy. But given that they're still waiting for the verdict from the Observation Committee to drop, this sort of attention is the last thing they need. They pull on sweatpants and jackets and shoes, let Claire know where they're going, and pile into Chris' Jeep.

Midnight was labeled as a troublemaker even back in Wesker's lab. She couldn't spit poison until she got a little older, which Leon thinks is truly fortunate. She might have really not survived then. She burns hot, which Leon understands, but it's also a tedious balance when she can seriously hurt someone so easily. She's always needed both Chris and Leon's attention – and was perhaps the one who most easily accepted them both as her dads, maybe even before Ben.

The officer at the station who called them has a passing awareness of Leon and Chris. He has the vaguest notion of what they do – mostly that Leon works for the government – and that there are a boatload of adopted kids up at the house that come from “difficult backgrounds.” Given that this is the first time that one of the kids has shown up there, the cop had done Leon the courtesy of giving him a call to try and keep things simple.

Midnight had just been caught at a house party with a bunch of other teenagers from town, drunk off her ass. She hadn't, of course had an ID, so they'd taken her in for underage drinking. 

Midnight is sitting in the lobby when they get there, kicking her shoes at the ground and sipping at a cup of water while chatting with the cop as if she hasn't nearly unmade their world. 

“Dad,” Midnight says, smiling when she sees them. “Dadfield!” She must be quite drunk. There's a lightness to her that they haven't seen in weeks, and it makes Leon sad. 

“This is Dad and Dadfield,” she says conversationally to the cop while Chris moves to try and get her to her feet. “They fight monsters,” she faux whispers and then laughs. She leans unsteadily into Chris. 

“This is a one-time thing, Kennedy,” the cop warns, and Leon nods, tired. Some part of him wants to hate that they're perceived as the sort of family that gets special treatment because Leon works for the American government. But he's also too busy being relieved that Midnight isn't going to enter the system accidentally. 

They head out of the station, and Chris gets her situated in the backseat. Leon can see that he's fighting being amused. And maybe if this hadn't happened during this time, it would be amusing, because Midnight is chatting with them like she had when she was little and keeps poking and teasing at Chris.

“What were you thinking?” Leon asks, twisting in his seat once Midnight is buckled in and Chris is in the front seat.

Midnight sighs loudly.

“ _Dad_ ,” she protests. 

“What do you think I could have done if they had arrested you and that had been sent over to the Observation Committee?” Leon asks.

“I don't know,” Midnight blows a raspberry. “Break into the police station and blow up their servers or something? Aunt Claire says that's half of what you do.” She laughs a little.

Leon doesn't know what his expression is, but something about it makes her pause.

“I just wanted to not be on a countdown for a little while,” Midnight says, leaning her head against the window instead of looking at him. “I wanted to know what a beer tastes like and why parties are supposed to be fun when you don't know anyone. I wanted to kiss someone. I wanted to dance. And I didn't want to die without doing any of those things.” Her eyes fill with tears and she looks back at Leon. “Dad, I don't want to die at all. It's not _fair_ that a group of strangers just to get to _vote_ on whether or not I'm allowed to live.” 

She's crying in earnest now, her tears smearing the dark makeup she's wearing down her face.

“I don't _want_ to be angry about it all the time, but it just,” she presses a hand against her chest, “it just gets me before I can stop it and then I can't make it go away.” 

“Oh, Midnight,” Leon says quietly. He climbs – not gracefully – into the backseat so that he can hold her and she continues to cry, clinging to him. 

“I don't want to die,” she says again. 

“The Observation Committee isn't going to kill you,” Leon murmurs.

“How do you _know_?”

“Because,” Leon answers, “Dadfield and I fight monsters, right? And we do that to protect good people. And you're a good person, Midnight.”

She looks up at him for a moment longer and seems to find whatever she needs. She nods and settles in against him. Leon meets Chris' gaze in the rearview mirror, and he finally starts the Jeep and heads back toward the house. Unsurprisingly, Midnight falls asleep on the way home, drooling on Leon's shoulder.

When they get back, Chris picks her up and carries her to her bedroom while Leon grabs water and aspirin for the hangover he doesn't doubt she's going to have in the morning. 

Leon is more than ready to head back to bed, but Chris steers him outside again. Leon looks at him questioningly, but Chris waits until they're outside to have the conversation he clearly wants to make sure they've having in private.

“Do you mean it?” Chris asks quietly. “That if the Observation Committee decides to kill the kids, you'd go against the BSAA and DSO?”

“Yes,” Leon answers, looking at him fearlessly, challenge implicit. He hadn't known it for sure until he'd said it to Midnight. But now he does, and he's unwavering in that knowledge.

Chris breathes out heavy and takes half a step back.

“I get that you can't,” Leon says. “And we shouldn't talk anymore about this so you don't know anything else, but, yes, I meant it.”

The night is very quiet around them as they stare at each other.

“No,” Chris says finally. “It's not that,” he seems to be struggling for his words. “I never thought there would be a circumstance where I would be on the wrong side of the BSAA.” 

Leon looks up at him in surprise and then leans in and kisses him, hard. Chris holds him back, tightly, as if they can cling to each other hard enough so that this storm won't tear their family apart.


	14. B13W: Nova

Nova is Leon's sunshine baby. In Wesker's facility, she was the one who fake cried all of the time to be brought to Leon. Once she was there, she was nothing but chipper smiles for him. It didn't take Leon long to figure out what she was doing, and he loved her all the more for it. 

Like Midnight, she didn't develop her secondary abilities until a little later on. Like Midnight, Leon also thinks that Nova might have not survived Wesker if she'd had them as a baby: she controls electrical currents and one of her favorite pranks – the one that started the incident – is to give people minor zaps. 

The siblings all know the amount of guilt she feels over that – that she started this. Some of her light has dimmed and, certainly, no one has been sparked since. 

She can't sleep lately. She's joined Luna and Leon in the yoga, and sneaked out with Nikki one night, and had even joined Midnight and Chris in some boxing, even though she and Midnight can easily get on one another's nerves. But nothing calms the storm inside of her. Particularly because she, like most of the siblings, is aware of what they'll do to protect each other. Nova doesn't prefer fighting, but she has a power that lends itself well to just that.

When she sleeps, she dreams of electrocuting people – people they know, like Jill or Piers or Sherry.

So, she doesn't sleep. She wanders the house and feels the electricity that traces the walls like veins. 

Which is how she knows that Leon is up in his office even though it's a little after 4 a.m. She heads in that direction, peering through the open door, alarmed when she sees him sitting in a chair with his head in his hands, still in the sweatpants he wore to bed. 

“Is it the execution order?” Nova asks softly. 

He looks up. His eyes are red, but he smiles faintly at the question.

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “The Observation Committee is going to leave you all alone. They're just going to add additional screening measures for anyone coming to work here.” 

He looks … old in a way that suddenly scares Nova a little. She knows that she and her siblings can expect to live lives that stretch far beyond the average human one, and that they'll be in better physical shape for almost all of those years. But she's never thought about the fact that Leon is aging normally, that he's still more likely to die before any of them. She shivers, unable to help herself. Sometimes these thoughts strike her strangely. Claire would say it's because she's doing 16 years of growing up in four years. 

“Come here,” Leon says, and Nova goes to him without any hesitation. She puts herself into his arms and closes her eyes and holds tight. 

They have those lurking shadowy memories of Wesker and his cronies and the sunless lab. But to Nova, this is her earliest memory: being held by Leon Kennedy and knowing that she is safe.


End file.
